The Decameron, Volume II eBook

NOVEL VIII.

—­ Nastagio degli Onesti, loving a damsel
of the Traversari family, by lavish expenditure gains
not her love. At the instance of his kinsfolk
he hies him to Chiassi, where he sees a knight hunt
a damsel and slay her and cause her to be devoured
by two dogs. He bids his kinsfolk and the lady
that he loves to breakfast. During the meal the
said damsel is torn in pieces before the eyes of the
lady, who, fearing a like fate, takes Nastagio to
husband. —­

Lauretta was no sooner silent than thus at the queen’s
behest began Filomena:—­Sweet ladies, as
in us pity has ever its meed of praise, even so Divine
justice suffers not our cruelty to escape severe chastisement:
the which that I may shew you, and thereby dispose
you utterly to banish that passion from your souls,
I am minded to tell you a story no less touching than
delightsome.

In Ravenna, that most ancient city of Romagna, there
dwelt of yore noblemen and gentlemen not a few, among
whom was a young man, Nastagio degli Onesti by name,
who by the death of his father and one of his uncles
inherited immense wealth. Being without a wife,
Nastagio, as ’tis the way with young men, became
enamoured of a daughter of Messer Paolo Traversaro,
a damsel of much higher birth than his, whose love
he hoped to win by gifts and the like modes of courting,
which, albeit they were excellent and fair and commendable,
not only availed him not, but seemed rather to have
the contrary effect, so harsh and ruthless and unrelenting
did the beloved damsel shew herself towards him; for
whether it was her uncommon beauty or her noble lineage
that puffed her up, so haughty and disdainful was
she grown that pleasure she had none either in him
or in aught that pleased him. The burden of which
disdain Nastagio found so hard to bear, that many
a time, when he had made his moan, he longed to make
away with himself. However he refrained therefrom,
and many a time resolved to give her up altogether,
or, if so he might, to hold her in despite, as she
did him: but ’twas all in vain, for it seemed
as if, the more his hope dwindled, the greater grew
his love. And, as thus he continued, loving and
spending inordinately, certain of his kinsfolk and
friends, being apprehensive lest he should waste both
himself and his substance, did many a time counsel
and beseech him to depart Ravenna, and go tarry for
a time elsewhere, that so he might at once cool his
flame and reduce his charges. For a long while
Nastagio answered their admonitions with banter; but
as they continued to ply him with them, he grew weary
of saying no so often, and promised obedience.
Whereupon he equipped himself as if for a journey
to France or Spain, or other distant parts, got on
horseback and sallied forth of Ravenna, accompanied
by not a few of his friends, and being come to a place
called Chiassi, about three miles from Ravenna, he
halted, and having sent for tents and pavilions, told